William ABORISADE

oosha53@rocketmail.com

Today, again, we are faced with the tragedy of the death of a teen, who got killed by police bullet inside his father’s car. Though debates as to who is right and who is wrong rages, the issue goes fay beyond this mundanity, more so, in a decadent society in which who is right and who is wrong depends more on the commentator and unconventional parameters.

Poor boy, Kehinde Paul Alade was being taken to his WASC examination centre and their car, driven by his father was flagged down by police. He, for what ever reason, failed to stop, giving as reason, his determination to have the boy get into the examination hall, unfailingly. More important to me, are the sociological circumstances of his unnecessary and avoidable death, were we to live in a nation operating by the rule of law. The relevant questions are:

1. Must policing be more about checking vehicle papers, in a nation being overrun by crime and criminals?
2. (ii) Do policemen require to be armed only to check papers, if they must?

I have visited several countries with not less than three in Africa. I never saw a country in which life is this regimented with, even uniformed people deploy on merely civil duties get armed to the teeth, with sad and unfriendly looks, intended to intimidate a citizen to part with his/her belongings! Security men kitted and paid by taxpayers should not be seen to deploy armed robber tactics! This does not conform to the ideals of freedom, an integral of democracy in which the citizens, (voters) plays the piper and, so, dictate the tunes.

The abuses of our uniforms, through unethical and unprofessional acts, by the people wearing them, after swearing to secure the same people is becoming the order of the day. This can only be a testimony of poor training, poor supervision and the failure of our laws. This is part of the institutional decay and undue chaos that became the lot of Nigeria, following the 1966 military coup, following which military people, their relations and loved ones became immune to our civil laws.

Going forward, this is one of the issues we must address. Our security agencies must be trained, not only in the act of shooting but in courtesy and respect to the country and its people who pay their salaries and kit them, as obtains world wide. This is what service to one’s country is all about. Given that Kehinde’s father unlawfully refused to obey the flag-down directive, firing shots in a civil public space was not the way out-in fact it is symptomatic of desperation! And, what is this desperation about? Anything personal?  Has his car no plate number with which he could be traced if he eventually escaped?

The claim by the police that the officer has been arrested and the promise that the case would be investigated must be followed through. Though, we have heard this severally, justice must be seen to be done and lessons learnt, without sentiments. Nigerians have taken this nonsense, for too long since 1966. Fela Anikulapo of blessed memory would say: Uniform na cloth. Going forward, rigorous background checks need be conducted in the recruitment of officers to serve in critical areas of our national service, notably the security agencies. 

We, as a nation, must begin to put in place, measures to ensure that rules guide our behaviours, both in private and in public. I have been to several countries, including five African countries. I never saw one in which citizens behave this lawless. There is the need to start to combat this sad legacy of the tragedy which befell this country in the January of 1966! The unruly behaviours of some poorly-upbrought men in uniform, and their friends, in what looked like they were above the laws, became an unfortunate form of role-modelling to the then youths, who started to see law-breaking as a symbolic of high status!

Sadder still, is the fact that such youths are the adults of today whose minds are almost irreversibly corroded! They seek money for the sake of seeking, only without any rational justification for the need!